File box closure fastening



April 1942- H. L. FELLOWES 2,281,486

FILE BO X CLOSURE FASTENING Filed Sept. 15, 1939 v 2 Sheets-Sheet l April 28, 1942. ow 2,281,486

FILE BOX CLOSU RE FASTENING Filed Sept. 15, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 Z9 Z3 2/ fizdezozar /arzy Z fZZazdeS Patented Apr. 28, 1942 2,281,486 FI EE BOX CLOSURE FASTENING Harry L. Fellowcs, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Bankers Box'Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application September 15, 1939, Serial'No. 294,996

10 Claims.

My invention contemplates and provides improved fastenings for the closures of file boxes of the general type disclosed in my earlier Patents Nos. 1,497,898 and 1,574,737.

A file box of the general type to which the improvements of the present invention are especially applicable preferably comprises a top closure which includes a pair of lateral top flaps having longitudinal edges which lie adjacent to each other when the box is closed.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a new and better species of closure fastener of the genus characterized by a cord and a button with which the cord cooperated to hold the box closure shut.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved box closure fastener of the cord and button type in which it is feasible to locate the button closely adjacent to the box closure and above a label covering the major portion of the exterior surface of a box end wall on which such button is mounted. Normally, e. g., as in the file boxes of my aforesaid earlier patents, it is necessary as a practical matter to locate the button below the label, or at any rate, well below the upper edge of the label.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved closure fastener of the cord and button type which acts to perform the twofold functions of (a) drawing and holding the lateral top fiaps of a file box tightly in engagement with the other box parts upon which they rest when the box is closed, and (b) drawing and holding the contiguous edges of such lateral top flaps in tightly abutting relationship; effective I- ly to exclude dust from the interior of the box.

An important feature of the present inven tion is the fact that the ends of the lateral top flaps are specially reinforced and stiffened in order that they may cooperate most effectively with the cords and buttons of the closure fasteners. In the preferred embodiment of my invention the reinforcing and stiffening means for the lateral top flap ends are in the form of edge bindings of metal-each pair of such edge bindings being provided with reversely presented hooks which, when the box is closed, are disposed in a triangular formation with a closely adjacent button cooperating with a cord which in turn cooperates with such hooks. Each cord is preferably permanently anchored to or with respect to the button with which it cooperates.

In the accompanying drawings wherein, I have depicted a. preferred embodiment of my invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective. View of the preferred embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view, partially in section, of the closure fastening devices at one end of the box;

Fig. 2a is a. detail section taken on the line 2a2a of Fig. 2;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevational View of the closure fastening devices at one end of the box;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken in the longitudinal plane of the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken in the transverse plane of the line 5 -5 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; and

Fig. 6 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken in the longitudinal plane of the line 66 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several. views.

The box embodying my invention comprises a paper board box of the general type described in my hereinbefore mentioned earlier patents, i. e., a box consisting of the following parts: end walls l5; side walls It; lateral bottom flaps ll; end bottom flaps l8; textile fabric strips I9 which are adhesively applied to the end bottom flaps l8 and the side walls It; end top flaps 2B; and lateral top flaps 21 which are adapted to lie exteriorly'of the end top flaps 20 with correspond ing longitudinal edges of such lateral top flaps abutting in the medial longitudinal vertical plane of the box.

That end wall 15 which is regarded as the front of the box is provided with a suitable label 22, and the end bottom flap integral with such label carrying wall may be provided with a loop. 23 wherewith to draw the box forwardly from a shelf or from a stack of similar boxes.

The lateral top flaps 2| constitute the box closure. It is with these flaps and the devices for securing them in closed position, and for minimizing the ingress of dust between their proximate edges, that the present invention is particularly concerned.

Referring now to the preferred embodiment of my invention which is depicted in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, it will be noted that the end edge of each lateral top flap 2! is reinforced and stiffened by an edge binder 24. Each such binder 24 is formed of a single piece of metal which is conformed to be generally U-shaped in transverse section and to present exterior wall 25, interior wall 26, and web 21. The free longitudinal margin of binder wall 26 is conformed to present a concave face 28 toward a lip 29 carried by the free longitudinal edge of the binder wall 25, so that the material of the embraced lateral top flap 2| may be indented by said lip 29 and be received by said concave surface 28, as is most clearly depicted in Fig. 6. Each edge binder 24 is preferably indented, as by a punch, into the paper board which such binder embraces, to prevent longitudinal shifting of the binder when the presently-to-be-mentioned cord 3| is applied and tautened as hereinafter explained. One such indentation is indicated at i in Fig. 2a.

Turned outwardly from each binder 24 at its web portion 2'! is a hook 311 which has its inner surfaces and edges so conformed that it will cooperate (with a minimum of chafing) with a cord 3|. It will be noted that the hooks of each pair are reversely turned so as to open laterally of the box and away from each other. It will also be noted that the binders 24 of each pair stop somewhat short of the proximate edges of the lateral top flaps 2| (see Fig. 2).

Located slightly beneath and preferably mid way between each of the hooks 30 of each pair is a concavo-convex cord locking button 32 which is secured on the adjacent end wall l5 by a rivet 33 which has its inner end extending through and upset against a washer 34. Such washer 34 also serves as an anchor for the knotted end 35 of the cord 3|. It is feasible and desirable for the button 32 to lie sufficiently high on the end wall l5 by which it is carried to permit a suitable label 22 to lie wholly beneath the button.

In securing the lateral top flaps in their closed positions, each of the cords 3| is stretched, in substantially triangular configuration, through one of the hooks 3D, thence through the other of said hooks, and thence tautly back to the locking button around and behind which the cord may be given either a partial turn or a full turn as desired (see Figs. 1, 2, and 3). The configuration of the cord, when applied as just described, is preferably that of an equi-lateral triangle (see Fig. 3).

Each cord 3| acts upon each of a pair of the stiffened ends of the lateral top flaps 2| in such manner (a) that the said lateral top flaps are drawn and held tightly against the end walls |5 which such stiifened flap ends overlie, and (b) that the proximate edges of such lateral top flaps are drawn and held in tightly abutting relation to each other.

Thus the closure fasteners which I have just described, although being of simple construction and easy to manipulate, not only hold the box closure (lateral top flaps 2|) securely in closed position, but do so in such a way as effectively to prevent dust from finding ingress to the box either between the two flaps 2| which constitute the closure, or between such flaps 2| and the box end walls l5. One of the lateral top flaps 2| may have riveted or otherwise secured to its under surface a cardboard strip 36 which acts as a flange underlying the other of said lateral top flaps and bridging the joint between such lateral top flaps. However, such strip or flange 36 is not indispensable in the preferred embodiment of my invention which has just been described.

Having thus illustrated and described my invention in twQ practical embodiments thereo what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A paper board box comprising side walls, end walls, a bottom and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps, carried by the side walls, adapted to lie edge to edge when closed, stiffeners applied to the end edge portions of such lateral top flaps, a hook carried by each stiffened end of each of said lateral top flaps, the two hooks at each end of the box opening laterally and away from each other, a cord locking button carried by each end wall at a point beneath and between said hooks, and a cord anchored to each end wall at a point adjacent the button carried thereby, each said cord being adapted to be tautly drawn and held by its button in a substantially triangular configuration in which it extends from the button, through the hooks, and thence back to the button, the cord and hook lying solely beyond the plane of the box end.

2. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie edge to edge when closed, said fastener comprising: a pair of hooks carried at corresponding end edges of the lateral top flaps, and below the top plane of said flap said hooks opening laterally and away from each other, a cord locking button carried by an end wall and lying beneath said hooks, and a cord, anchored to said end wall in the region of said button, arranged to be extended through said hooks and thence to the button for detachable connection with the latter.

3. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie edge to edge when closed, said fastener comprising: a pair of hooks at one end of the box, each hook being carried by an end edge of one of the lateral top flaps and opening laterally away from the other hook, a locking button carried by an end wall and disposed below and between said hooks, and substantially in the same vertical plane therewith and a cord, having one end anchored with respect to said button, adapted to be extended from the button, thence through both of said hooks, and thence back to the button, in substantially triangular configuration.

4. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie edge to edge when closed, said'fastener comprising: a pair of metal stiffeners of substantially U-shaped cross section embracing and secured to corresponding end edges of the lateral top flaps, a hook turned outward from the metal of the web portion of each stiffener, said hooks opening laterally away from each other, a locking button carried by an end wall and'disposed beneath said hooks, and a cord adapted to be extended around said hooks and button.

5. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie edge to edge when closed, said fastener comprising: a pair of hooks at one end of the box, each hook being carried by an end edge of one of the lateral top flaps substantially below their top plane and opening laterally away from the other hook, a locking button carried by an end wall and disposed below and between said hooks, and a cord adapted to be extended in straight lines between said hooks and each of said hooks and said button in substantially th configuration of a triangle.

6. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie edge to edge when closed, said fastener comprising: a pair of metal stifieners of substantially U-shaped cross section embracing and secured to corresponding end edges of the lateral top flaps, a hook turned outward from the metal of the web portion of each stiffener, said hooks opening laterally away from each other, a locking button carried by an end wall and disposed beneath said hooks, and a cord adapted to be extended around said hooks and button, to lie in a plane substantially parallel to the box end, each stiffener comprising a hollow boss punched into the lateral top flap which such stiffener embraces effectively to prevent longitudinal movement of such stiffener relatively to such lateral top flap, when the cord is tautened around the hooks and button.

'7. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom, and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie in adjacent closing relation when closed, said fastener comprising a cord, means at the end of one flap for engaging said cord, a hook carried by the adjacent flap and projecting beyond the adjacent end thereof, said hook being directed generally towards the hinge of last said flap, a locking button carried by the adjacent end wall and disposed beneath said hook, whereby said cord may be passed around said hook and secured to said button to hold both said flaps in closed relation.

8. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom, and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie in adjacent closing relation when closed, said fastener comprising a cord secured to an end wall, a pair of hooks, one mounted on the adjacent end of each of said flaps so as to project therebeyond, and substantially below the plane of the top surface thereof, the hook on each flap being directed generally towards the hinge of that flap, and means on the end wall for readily removable engagement with said cord, whereby the box may be securely closed by the cord passing in substantially straight lines defining a triangle around said hooks and said cord-engaging means, and enaged by said cord-engaging means.

9. A top closure fastener for a box comprising end walls, side walls, a bottom, and a top closure in the form of lateral top flaps extending from the side walls and adapted to lie in adjacent closing relation when closed, said fastener comprising a cord, a pair of hooks, one mounted on the adjacent end of each of said flaps so as to project therebeyond, and to lie below the plane of the top surface thereof, the hook on each flap being directed generally towards the hinge of that flap, and a button on the end wall for readily removable engagement with said cord, the hooks and the button lying beyond the plane of the end wall, whereby the box may be securely closed by the cord, said cord being anchored to the end wall adjacent said button and engaged with said button so as to arrange the cord in substantially triangular relation applying an inward and closing force to each flap.

10. In a closure fastener for a file box having a bottom, side walls, and end walls and a cover comprising two abutting flaps, the combination of a pair of hooked metal members carried by said abutting flaps at their end edges adjacent said abutting edges, said members having oppositely directed hooks projecting outwardly from said end edges, with a flexible tension member having one end secured to the end walls adjacent said members and a snubbing fastener carried by said end wall and projecting therefrom adjacent said members, said hooks and snubbing fastener being located in substantially the same plane, whereby said tension member may pass about said hooks and about said snubbing fastener to draw said end flaps into tight abutting engagement and tight engagement with said end wall by means of a single circular movement of the hand of the operator.

HARRY L. FELLOWES. 

